Ottawa Senators Logo

The ice hockey team Ottawa Senators has always had a logo featuring the head of a Roman general. The way it was depicted hasn’t been the same, though. About a decade ago, the logo went through a major overhaul and acquired a more modern look without losing its distinctive style.

Meaning and History logo

The club was named in honor of the original Ottawa Senators, one of founding NHL franchises that existed from the 1880s to the 1950s. NHL approved the new club in late 1990. Mel Bridgman, who used to be a professional NHL player, became the general manager.

Old logo

The Ottawa Senators logo history has been comparatively short. The Senators’ original logo was introduced in the spring of 1991, a year before the team’s first playing season, 1992/93. The choice of theme seemed perfectly natural. The logo depicted a side view of a Roman general, a member of the Senate of the Roman Empire.
The author of the logo was designer Tony Milchard, who has been known for his work in the Art Department of such movies as Small Cop and Sunnyhearts Community Centre (2016-2017). As Milchard pointed out, he was trying to depict a “centurion figure, strong and prominent.”
The “senator” was wearing a gold helmet with red and black “feathers.” Laurels could be seen on the helmet. The head, which appeared on the black background, was encircled by the lettering “Ottawa Senators” in black.
In 1998, the emblem went through a subtle modification. The laurels moved from the helmet to the gold semi-circle, where they replaced the name of the team. The eye of the senator became more prominent. In fact, it looked closed in the previous version, so you could think that he was sleeping, while if you took a look at the modified emblem, you would see a person who was, without any doubt, awake.

The 2008 symbol

A decade later, the team owners decided to move even further and made the Roman general even more impressive. The new logo looked more realistic and caught your eye because now the centurion was looking not to the side, but at you. The emblem depicted a man of courage, whose face was stoic and strict, with prominent cheekbones and strong features. As more NHL players started using visors, the senator’s helmet was also modified to protect more of his face. In fact, the team began to use a less polished version of this emblem in 1997, but it had the status of a secondary logo.

Emblem

The team has several alternative logos. When the Ottawa Senators promoted the modernized version of their former third-jersey logo to the primary status, the Ottawa Senators logo featuring the side view of a centurion became a secondary one. They also use a shield with black and red fields, as well as an emblem featuring a large “O” and a flag.

Font

The wordmark features the name of the team in two lines. The word “Senators” is given in large red letters with a black outline, while the word “Ottawa” is written in smaller gold letters. There’re laurels below. The two words sport the same typeface. It’s both highly legible and unique due to the unusual sharp “serifs” seen on most letters.

Color

In addition to black and white, the official Ottawa Senators logo features the shades of gold and bright red looking very close to the following ones: Hex: #CF0820 (red) and #C09205 (gold). The four colors have been present in the palette ever since the club was established. The club owners explained that the color scheme was borrowed from the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association (which doesn’t exist anymore), as the Ottawa Hockey Club was one of its members.